Fourteen-year-old Cooper Plummer has well and truly made his mark in the Junior Dragster bracket of late, including at the weekend’s Riverbend Nationals, where he claimed not only his third event victory of his season but also the Western Conference win for the bracket.

Plummer is also kicking goals off the track, recently announced as a top four finalist in the Seven News Department of Human Services Aboriginal Achievement Award, which will be announced in May.

The Campbelltown (SA) racer was almost without words after the Riverbend Nationals event.

“I am absolutely stoked, I really, really wanted the Western Conference win and to get it was absolutely amazing,” Plummer enthused.

“And to get the event win, that was like a little cherry on top, it makes it even better.

“It wasn’t really a smooth weekend for us, we had some troubles with the car during qualifying with it stalling in the bottom end and we couldn’t get it to run on the index. We weren’t really able to get it sorted out entirely, but it was running consistently, so we worked with it, and it all came together.

“I really did not think I was going to win; I went into some rounds up against some real heavy hitters, and I am just in disbelief,” concluded the 14-year-old.

On his way to the win, Plummer defeated Todd Wagner in round one before knocking out top qualifier Talor Horton in round two, before round three brought a victory over Lachlan Walker. Plummer then lined up against event runner-up Zayne Condello in the final.

Western Conference runner-up Sarah Osborne had a strong showing throughout the day, making it through to round three before being knocked out by Condello, with prior wins over James Barlow (round one) and Madalen Datson (round 2).

A full complement of Aeroflow National Sportsman Championship racers descended on the state-of-the-art South Australian venue for the April 5-7 event alongside Top Fuel, Top Doorslammer, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, putting it all on the line for the highly anticipated conclusion to the Western Conference.

For an overview of the Riverbend Nationals results for all brackets, including group one, please click here.

For a detailed rundown of how each of the sportsman brackets unfolded over the weekend, please click here.

Image thanks to Cackling Pipes